Like a horror movie with an endless string of sequels, the latest attempt to revive the Adams Mine seems to be moving from fright to farce. This time, Adams Mine backers are bringing the beast back with a light green make-over. Kirkland Lake Mayor Bill Enouy unveiled the latest incarnation at a Toronto news conference on August 24th. The controversial dump plan is now being re-christened as "Enviroganic: 2010 Waste Diversion Partnership." Calling it a carrot Toronto couldn't afford to ignore, Enouy promised to build a composting facility that could handle 25,000 tonnes a year for diversion. In exchange, Toronto would ditch its contract with Republic Services of Michigan and divert the GTA garbage back to the water-logged pits of the Adams Mine. The "Enviroganic" option represents a mere 1.6% diversion of the the estimated 1.5 million tonnes of GTA waste. It's a far cry from Toronto's public commitment to hit nearly 100% diversion within the next decade. Why Toronto would get involved in such a scheme after last fall's confrontation over the dump staggers the imagination. But a number of mixed signals coming out of TO certainly gives pause for thought.

According to the Toronto Sun, the idea of this composting facility was "hatched" at a meeting Enouy had with Works' Chair Betty Disero. Present at that meeting was the dump Maestro himself, Gordon McGuinty.
In an interview with HighGrader Magazine, Disero mentioned that a representative from Aecon (formerly Armbro Construction) was also present.
Rumours in the garbage world have it that McGuinty has teamed up with Aecon to take another run at the Adams Mine. The company is Canada's largest, publicly traded building company, working in as diverse locales as Poland and Northern India. Last year they stacked up a record revenue of one billion dollars. (HighGrader made numerous calls to Aecon's Toronto offices to try and clarify the company's position regarding a new partnership with McGuinty, but haven't heard back yet.)
Speculation of yet another battle over the Adams Mine was furthered by comments made by Angelo Bacopoulos, manager of solid waste for the city: "If Kirkland Lake can come back and convince Council that the option is available and Council decides to follow up on it, we have not committed to send all our tonnage to Michigan at this point in time."
Such talk clearly worries Toronto Councillor Michael Walker. He points out that Toronto Works should be in the final stages of signing contracts with Republic Waste of Michigan, instead of publicly toying with another round of debate about the controversial dump.
"We do an awful lot of backroom deals down here," says Walker. "Then Council gets browbeat into accepting it. I have a queasy feeling about this because there's just so much power and money involved."
But less than a week after her meeting with McGuinty and crew, Disero has publicly stated that Toronto isn't interested in playing footsie with the Adams family. She's told the media that nobody in City Hall has the stomach to reopen the most fractious debate in recent municipal memory.
Pierre Belanger, spokesman for the Adams Mine Coalition, ridicules the notion of a revival. "The only thing being recycled here is Gordon McGuinty's career and the only thing being composted at the Adams Mine will be the investment dollars of his new partners."

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